LOS ANGELES – The good times came to an end Sunday at Staples Center. But the Clippers are confident that it is just a temporary stall.

“It’s just a minor hiccup,” Clippers forward Elton Brand said.

Hoping to put the final touches on a perfect homestand, the Clippers were unable to get it accomplished against the NBA’s best team. The Detroit Pistons, sailing smoothly through the early season, improved their record to 15-2 and their road mark to 10-1, with a 109-101 victory.

The loss snapped the Clippers’ four-game win streak and prevented them from posting a 5-0 record on what is their second-longest homestand this season. The Clippers (14-6), who leave today for a two-game trip to San Antonio and New Orleans/Oklahoma City, are at home for seven consecutive games next month.

“We weren’t going to go the whole season with just one loss at home,” center Chris Kaman said. “It’s not like we’re happy that we lost, but we did play the best team in the NBA.”

Showing why they have played in the NBA Finals the past two years, winning the title in 2004, the Pistons used near-flawless ball movement throughout, resulting in a bevy of scoring contributions that prevented the Clippers from clamping down on two or three scorers. Detroit committed only four turnovers, a NBA season-low, and one off the league record.

“When we play a team like that, we have to come out more ready than we did tonight,” Clippers swingman Quinton Ross said.

Detroit finished with a shooting percentage of 49.4 from the field but spent most of the game making more than half of its field-goal tries against the league’s top-ranked field-goal defensive team.

Detroit’s guard tandem of Richard Hamilton and Chauncey Billups scored 23 and 25 points respectively, combing on 17 of 28 attempts. They also hit 5 of 6 from behind the three-point line. Power forward Rasheed Wallace, the best long- range shooting big man in the league, knocked down 2 of 3 three- pointers, as the Pistons made 8 of 12 long-distance shots.

“They’re an excellent team and were just too much for us to handle tonight,” Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy said. “I don’t think we were sharp in the first half, defensively.”

The Pistons made their living off their defense, the past two seasons, under Coach Larry Brown. Now, with Flip Saunders making the calls from the bench, Detroit has lost none of its defensive ferocity, while improving offensively.

“I knew everything they were running,” said Clippers guard Sam Cassell, who was Saunders’ floor leader in Minnesota, when the Timberwolves reached the Western Conference finals two years ago. “And they knew that we were a little tired from having played the night before, although that’s not an excuse.”

Despite Brand’s 14th double-double, 36 points and 10 rebounds, the Clippers played from behind the entire game, not once even tying the score. Detroit led 59-45 at halftime. The only time the deficit fell under 10 points, was on two free throws, by Brand, with 39 seconds left. Hamilton’s runner at the buzzer restored a double-digit lead.

Facing a huge task to get back into the game, the Clippers resorted to an unorthodox strategy in the fourth quarter by fouling Pistons center Ben Wallace, who throughout his career has struggled from the free-throw line.

On one hand, the strategy worked. Wallace missed 15 of 20 free-throw tries in the final 12 minutes. But the Clippers did not fully capitalize, giving up an assortment of offensive rebounds, when Wallace clanked his shots off the back rim.

Billups made the Clippers pay dearly when he grabbed a long miss by Wallace, and in one motion, buried a straightaway, three-pointer, that boosted the lead back up to 97-86, with 4:51 left.

“That was the dagger,” Cassell said. “But we’ve made dagger shots against teams, too. We’ll be alright. This is just one game.”

MAGGETTE UPDATE

It is very possible that forward Corey Maggette will not be with the team for its road games, starting Tuesday against the San Antonio Spurs. The Clippers play the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets the next night in Oklahoma City.

Maggette has missed the past three games because of a mid-left foot sprain. He was injured Nov.5, in the Clipppers’ victory over the Miami Heat, when he accidentally stepped on the foot of teammate Chris Wilcox.

LIVINGSTON UPDATE

The target date for second-year point guard Shaun Livingston’s season debut appears to be Saturday, when the Clippers are at home against the Houston Rockets. Livingston will accompany the team on a trip for the first time today. Livingston has been out for more than two months because of a stress reaction of the lower back.

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